


unrequited love and other cliches

by avennvares



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, Inspired by He’s Just Not That Into You, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Oikawa and Kuroo have sex but I’m not adding it to relationships, Pining, Some characters are in college and some are not, Unrequited Love, more tags to be added as it updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avennvares/pseuds/avennvares
Summary: Growing up is hard; people change, you start paying bills, and feelings that you thought you were content with hiding make their way to the surface.Kenma can’t help the way his heart squeezes when his best friend looks in someone else’s direction, and Suga can’t stop being in love with his ex-boyfriend from high school who happened to just get engaged.Oikawa is ready to forget about his ex, but not ready to jump into something new— and yet he can’t stop calling this new guy he just met.And Hinata suddenly shares a studio apartment with an old acquaintance from high school whose crush on his is obvious to everyone except Hinata himself.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	unrequited love and other cliches

**Author's Note:**

> I grew up watching a lot of romcoms, and recently rewatched He’s Just Not That Into You and got a bit inspired. This fic will follow four different relationships with each new chapter focusing on a different one. This first one is Kenma-centeric, and the next one will be Oikawa. 
> 
> Title come from “Unrequited Love (& other cliches) by breakup shoes.

Loud, angry banging on Kenma’s front door wakes him up from snoozing on his couch. His vision blurs as he opens his eyes and tries to make sense of what’s happening. What time is it, who is at his door, what do they want? They keep knocking as Kenma plants his feet on the ground and steadies himself. 

Behind him, he hears a different door creak open; Kuroo’s head is peaking out of the doorway, and Kenma can see his naked shoulder. Pieces start to fill together, but Kenma’s still sleep-filled head can’t seem to see the full picture. “Kenma,” Kuroo whisper-shouts. “Kenma, can you get that?” Kenma blinks in response and shuffles his way to the door. 

He unlocks the deadbolt, slides off the chain lock, and finally turns the knob and cracks the door open. Standing in the brightly lit hallway of the apartment complex is a boy, probably around his age, with short black hair and an angry expression. “Can I help you?” Kenma asks. He doesn’t know this boy. At least, he thinks he doesn’t. Maybe they met on campus?

Or maybe he’s one of Kuroo’s lovers.

The boy opens his mouth, but no noise comes out. Instead, red creeps over his cheeks and to the tips of his ears. He snaps his mouth shut and looks to the left. Kenma can’t make out what he says through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry,” Kenma says. “Could you repeat that?” Kenma glances back at Kuroo’s door for some kind of support, but the door has since been shut. He thinks he can hear some laughter coming from that direction. An uncomfortable feeling makes its home in his gut. 

“Could you please keep it down?” the boy says again. “Y-you’re shaking my whole apartment…” 

The final piece of the puzzle slams down in Kenma’s mind, and finally he understands. The angry banging, Kuroo’s naked shoulder, the laughter from his room, and this boy asking him to keep it down. Oh. It all makes sense now.

“Sorry,” Kenma says. “I’ll pass the message along.” He isn’t sure what he should do now. Should he shut the door and try to go back to sleep? Or invite the boy in and make Kuroo come apologize? They both stand there awkwardly a moment, wondering what the next move should be. 

“Well,” the boy says at the same time Kenma manages a “Uhm…”

“You first,” the boy says, as Kenma says, “Sorry, I…”

They stare at each other for a moment, waiting to see if the other will make another attempt to speak. 

“I’m gonna go,” the boy says. “Keep it down.” Kenma nods and watches him stomp down the hall and to the stairs. He must live under us, Kenma thinks as he eases the door closed. He shuffles to Kuroo’s door, to tell him that he needs to keep his… activities… down for their neighbors. He raises his hand to tap on the door, but stops at the sound of giggling and a small moan. 

Oh. Well.

He shouldn’t interrupt them. 

He’ll just tell Kuroo in the morning. 

Kenma moves back to the couch, putting on a show on Netflix in order to focus on something else. It doesn’t take too long for his eyes to grow heavy and for him to fall back asleep.

When he wakes up again, it’s to the sound of water running in the kitchen. He watches the silhouette at the sink, takes in long legs and short shorts and a bare back. The shape doesn’t belong to Kuroo (Kenma would know Kuroo’s frame anywhere), so it must belong to his guest. The water shuts off, and Kenma catches a glimpse at his face as he turns to take a sip of water. A crown of brown waves, a slender jawline. Kenma doesn’t know him, but that isn’t surprising. Kenma doesn’t know many of Kuroo’s lovers. 

He hears Kuroo’s door open, and he immediately closes his eyes. For some reason, he really doesn’t want Kuroo to know he’s awake. He listens to his best friend’s footsteps— Kuroo pauses at the couch where Kenma is sleeping and tugs the blanket down and over his feet before continuing into the kitchen. 

“You left me,” Kuroo says. He says this in a tone he’s never used with Kenma before, low and sultry. There’s a disconnect between this Kuroo and the Kuroo Kenma is accustomed to. His Kuroo is kind of a nerd, always telling Kenma facts about chemistry or biology. Charismatic, sure, but not… this. It makes him uncomfortable, makes him want to retreat to his bedroom, but instead he cracks his eyes open, just a tiny bit, to see how Kuroo and his guest are regarding each other.

Kuroo’s arm is wrapped around the other boy’s waist, pulling him against him. His other hand has made its home on the boy’s ass; Kenma immediately shut his eyes again. 

“I was thirsty. It’s so dry in your room,” the boy says. Kuroo laughs lowly, and Kenma could just imagine him burying his face into this other guy’s neck, kissing and coaxing. “We should take this back in there,” Kuroo says, and sure enough his voice is muffled. 

“Does your roommate…” A moan. “Does he just sleep in the living room?” 

“Sometimes,” Kuroo answers. “He stays up late playing video games and just crashes wherever his body is located.” Footsteps; they must be going back to Kuroo’s bedroom. 

“Aww,” his partner cooed. Kenma swears he’s mocking him. “That’s cute.” Their voices get further away and Kenma holds back a sigh of relief as the door closes, reopening his eyes. He swings his legs over the side of the couch and takes light steps to his own room. His golden eyes stare at Kuroo’s door, wanting him to open it and come check on him one more time. It doesn’t open, and Kenma can’t stand to listen to the giggling on the other side any longer. He steps into his room and eases the door shut behind him.

###

It’s Hinata Shoyo’s third day at work, and he’s already breaking rules.

Kenma watches him as he hits the double shot button on the espresso machine, the hot liquid dribbling into a styrofoam cup full of ice. “Do you want one, Kenma?” Shoyo asks. Kenma doesn’t know why he needs the coffee when he is naturally energetic. He hits the double shot button again and gathers milk and whip cream. 

“No, thank you,” Kenma answers. Shoyo pours the milk over the ice and espresso and tops it with the whipped cream. Kenma cocks his head to the side as he watches Shoyo drizzle caramel syrup over it. Kenma likes sugar just as much as the next guy, but this is almost too much. Involuntarily, his nose wrinkles.

“At least try it!” Shoyo insists, pushing the cup into Kenma’s hands. Kenma’s lips wrap around the straw and he takes a short sip. Sugar coats his tongue and caffeine fills his stomach— Kenma’s heart almost immediately kicks into overdrive. “What’s in this?”

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Shoyo takes the cup back and takes a huge drink. “Chocolate and caramel, mostly. And espresso.” 

Kenma coughs behind his fist, desperate for a glass of water. “You got a table,” he says, pointing to the cafe’s host as she walks a couple over to a table in Shoyo’s section. Shoyo practically chirps and skips his way over, and Kenma turns the corner into the kitchen to get a glass of water and wash the chocolate from his throat. 

The work shift goes on without much incident. Shoyo drops a few plates as he carries them to the dish pit, but Kenma is close behind him with a broom to sweep up the broken glass. Kenma gets a couple of impatient tables— those who suck down soda after soda and wonder why they don’t have a new one right as the other empties. As it becomes two o’clock, thirty minutes before Kenma is due to leave, he gets one last table.

It’s the man from the previous night. The one who knocked on his door and asked him to keep it down. 

That was so embarrassing. And Kenma can’t face him now. 

The man—his downstairs neighbor— is studying his menu closely. Kenma takes this moment to sidle over to Shoyo. “Hey,” he says, “do you mind taking that last one?” He nods to his neighbor. Shoyo looks over and cocks his head to the side. “It’s just that I know him,” Kenma explains, voice low, “and—” 

“Kageyama?” Shoyo interrupts. He’s focused on the table, eyes glowing with familiarity. Oh. So Shoyo must know him, too. As if he heard his name called, this Kageyama glances over, taking in Kenma at first. When he sees Shoyo, his eyes widen just a fraction. Shoyo’s face fills with a grin. 

“Kageyama!” Shoyo is practically shouting as he makes his way over to him. Kenma watches as he sits across from Kageyama and plops his elbows on the table.

Oh. He must know Kageyama really well.

Small world.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is really short, but the next one will be longer and (hopefully) up next week.
> 
> Feedback appreciated!


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